A family of four was sentenced to death by a Chinese court today after being found guilty of murdering their landlord and his whole family. The criminals killed their landlord as well as their landlord’s wife and two grown-up children in 2017 after being urged to pay their rent, according to Qingdao Intermediate Court.

The chilling murder case, which took place in one of China’s most modern cities, has shocked the entire nation.

The criminals and the victims lived in the same residential building in the Chengyang District of Qingdao, a major city in east China with more than six million residents.

The criminals have been named Li Jizhong 40, his wife Li Chenghua, 32, his father Li Zhongzhi, 68, and his mother Jin Shanjin, 68. All of them are Chinese nationals, but are ethnically Korean, according to a previous police notice.

The Li family lived on the fifth floor while their landlord’s family, the Ji family, lived upstairs on the sixth floor.

Reports from 2017 claimed that the Li family had been living in their rented flat for a month, but had yet to pay their monthly rent of 18,000 yuan (£2,000).

In an online statement today, Qingdao Intermediate Court said that Li Jizhong thought of kidnapping his landlord and the landlord’s family after the landlord had repeatedly come to urge him and his family to pay the rent in October, 2017.

The court said Li Jizhong planned to rob the Ji family after kidnapping them, so he and his family ‘could have a better life’.

Li Jizhong then convinced his wife and his parents to join the plan, and all of them agreed. They planned to trick the Ji family into their flat and kill them if they resist. The four bought blades, ropes and shoelaces as tools and rehearsed before carrying out the crime in November, 2017.

The court said the Li family duped the four members of the Ji family into their flat one by one on November 14, 2017, before killing them separately.

Li Jizhong was found guilty of robbery, rape and intentional killing. Li Chenhua, Li Zhongzhi and Jin Shanjin were found guilty of intentional killing. All of them were sentenced to death.

The court said the criminals had chosen not to appeal. The date of the execution has yet to be announced.

Family Of 4 Sentenced To Death For Killing Their Landlord And His Family Over Rent. Photos September 14th, 2018National Helm Reporter